I Will Remember You

I had a variety of friends from elementary to high school. There was one girl in particular I met Jr. High, who has never been too far from my thoughts, my friend Nicole. We didn’t go to elementary together but we joined up at Pierce Middle School. From the beginning we shared classes and luck would have it we had the same two letters in our last names, so being the traditionalist school that Pierce is, all students sat in alphabetical order and we always sat together. We were destined to be friends. We even lived on the same street divided by West Chicago. I lived on the north side of the street and Nicole lived on the south side and thats how we ended up in different elementary schools.

Anyway, as the years past Nicole and I did everything together. Nicole was always the best at whatever she did and never let anyone think of her in any other way but the girl down the street. She never dressed in the latest fades, but every guy loved her and she dated the cutest guys in school. She never made you feel stupid but she was in the National Honors Society and all of her classes were advanced placement classes. She was so funny and so thoughtful . . . she was the best.

Our senior year was so much fun, I could go on and on about spring break in Jamaica, parties, and fights (with other girls never between us) but that could easily turn into a book. By the time graduation took place, I had made plans to spend my summer at BGSU to start my college courses. Nicole had just broken up with her boyfriend Doug and was going to spend the summer working. Doug was a guy I have known basically my entire life. Never really “friends” but always a sweet guy. I specifically remember us at our elementary school (we went back together to the Fisher Elementary School days) visiting for some reason and my little brother ran into the boy’s bathroom. Doug was in there and brought him out, he was like “I believe he belongs to you.” I don’t know why I remember that, it was easily 10+ years ago, but it’s my most vivid memory of Doug.

Well that summer I got an email from Nicole that she was pregers (we didn’t use that word back then but you get the point). I remember crying. Here I was at a university taking classes and she was back home pregnant. She was the smart one and the pretty one, she should have been doing the college thing, not me.

We went back and forth with emails and letters. I visited her and the baby once and then all communication stopped, no reason just stopped. I moved back home after college for a few months and tried to call her and left a message. Not sure if she ever got it. I always felt bad for not trying harder to keep in touch with someone who was such a great friend. Its weird but I have dreams about her all the time, I dream that we are hanging out; like no time has ever past and we are having a having so much fun.

Last week I got a myspace message that there will be a funeral service for Doug. He was in a fatal accident. Although my heart broke for his family, my first thoughts went to Nicole and her baby, who is now no longer a baby.

So I shopped online for flowers to send to my dear friend Nicole, to let her know I was thinking about her and praying for her. “I will remember you” that’s our senior song. It seems appropriate then, as it does today.